WoW 6: Top 5 Tips for Surviving a Long Flight
With the current pandemic and wanting to make sure we are doing our part in keeping the world a safe and healthy place, our travel plans have been put on pause. We did not go to Arizona in May and just this week our plans to head to England in September were cancelled. We are hopeful that the world will continue to make progress in the fight to keep everyone safe and healthy and maybe, just maybe, we can still head to Germany & Austria come December.
In the meantime, while we are “grounded” (well, sort of.. see pictures above) we are working on finding new ways to sit around the house….and wanted to share some tips and tricks for surviving a long flight. If you’ve ever been on a flight that has gone above the 6 hour mark, you have to know it is truly a physical and mental test. Though we would love to dramatically compare it to completing a marathon, it may not be quite that extreme. Nonetheless, it is a special experience that can leave you feeling on top of the world when you land at your destination or could leave you feeling anxious and ridden with pain.
Our cat discovering how comfy it can be to sit in-between pillows instead of on top of them
At this point we can confidently say we have cumulatively been on over 125 planes in our lives. Some were tiny puddle jumpers and some were marathon rides and we feel like every time we get on a plane we are a little more prepared than the last time. So what are some of the tips to surviving those long hauls by controlling the things that are within your control?
Compression Socks are not an optional accessory. Seriously, if you haven’t tried them you need to sprint to amazon right now and buy a pair before you get on your next flight. We were skeptics for a long time and felt that compression socks would leave us feeling more uncomfortable/warm/tight than the benefit would outweigh. Boy were we wrong! After flying on back to back to back to back planes to get to Thailand and home we’re pretty sure they were the only thing that kept feeling in our feet, blood circulating throughout our bodies and our legs feeling fresh enough to carry us around when we would descend. Not only do they make the experience exponentially more comfortable, they truly can be a safety thing too. Being sedentary for too long (which isn’t much of an option when your middle seat on a 15 hour plane ride) can cause blood clots in your legs. Don’t risk it. Just buy them. Your legs will thank you, we promise. Here’s a link to the one’s we love!
Our Favorite Compression Socks - Amazon
Pack your toothbrush in your carry on - There is something about having fresh teeth that helps keep you feel alive on a long flight. Whether it be waking up from cat naps and feeling like you have an infinite loop of morning breath, or trying to brush away all the check mix you have snacked on. The times we haven’t had our tooth brush right in our carry on to freshen up mid flight have really made the experience less enjoyable!
Have healthy or “normal” snacks on hand for you. Don’t get us wrong, we can eat airplane Cheeze-It’s all day with the best of them. We have found that on some flights we just start to feel kind of sick, usually, from eating and drinking things we normally don’t eat and/or not having food readily available to us at the times we would normally eat. Make sure you think about packing some normal to you, back up snacks to have handy on the flight. No one wants to be Hangry ever, especially on a long haul flight. If you start to feel a little ‘off’ a lot of times a healthy snack will put you back on track. Extra points if it takes a while to eat… sometimes you just need something to keep you busy and pass time. Snacks that take a while to consume we have found are our friends. Who says they don’t count as a plane activity?
Pack your carry on strategically. If you put any and everything that you can possibly fit into your carry on because your *terrified* you could lose your luggage and want as much on you as possible, we feel ya! The problem is, a lot of the things you pack, won’t be used on the plane and end up getting in the way when your wedged into a tiny space trying to find the pair of headphones or granola bar that fell to the bottom of your bag underneath all of the nonsense. Think about layering your carry on. Set out the stuff you are hoping to fit into your bag and then sort it into 3 piles
Things you are putting in that you won’t use until you get to your final destination such as extra clothes, camera’s, confirmations for booked activities you may have printed out and brought along, etc.
Things you may use ONCE during the duration of your flight. “Back up items”.
The things you will regularly be reaching for such as your headphones, a book, or your go to snack.
Once you have the three piles, layer your carry on like a lasagna! The things that fell into part 1 go on the bottom, 2 goes in the middle and 3 on top. It will save you extra time and discomfort rummaging through your bag while in a tiny space and keep the things you want conveniently at the top for you to quickly grab.
Comfy clothes are key. We feel like this one should be a no brainer but we are consistently baffled by people’s choice of clothing on a long plane ride. The amount of times we’ve seen high heels, trend over comfort or lord forbid buttons on the waistline of your pants blows our minds! When you are gearing up for a long flight, we would always choose comfort over fashion. If you can marry the two, better yet ;). We suggest you find the clothes you own that have the softest fabric, easiest fit and no areas that would cut into you. Though a slight discomfort may seem minimal when you're standing around or wearing them normally, when you're trapped on a flight sitting in the same spot for hours the smallest discomforts you may have barely noticed before will become the annoyance you can’t take off your mind. Always opt for comfort! You can change into your favorite outfit when you land.
These are some of our favorites we have made part of our flight process over the years. We would love to hear from you! What are some of your tried and true tips to help you thrive on a long flight?
Happy Travels (Someday!)
The Starback’s